1 week Ago By Nate Gartrell
PLEASANT HILL — Two alleged Richmond gang members are set to go on trial early next year over the shootout that killed a local cannabis delivery driver and a suspected robber after a group ambushed the victim near his home, court records show. Money Green, 20, and Joe Washington Jr., 18, were held to answer at their late July preliminary hearing, and are now set for trial in early 2025.
Green faces charges of murdering 63-year-old Peter Popovich, while Washington is charged with conspiracy, robbery, and possessing the stolen Dodge Charger that the robbers used in the killing. Court records have recently revealed a new detail in the sequence that led up to Popovich’s death. Just two hours before Popovich and 21-year-old Trevon Davis, a suspected robber, were killed in a gunfight, he, Green, and at least one other person allegedly ran into a smoke shop on International Boulevard in Oakland and robbed it of various items.
The robbers wore masks, but police were able to identify Davis because he wore the same clothing that he was donning later that day, when Popovich fatally shot him, authorities said. After the smoke shop robbery, Oakland police attempted to stop the suspects, who were driving a stolen vehicle. But the car sped away and eluded the officers shortly after 10 a.
m. The double homicide occurred a little before noon that same day, authorities said in court filings. Popovich, a Pleasant Hill resident, was armed with a firearm for his job and spent his last day on earth driving around the East Bay from one cannabis dispensary to another, doing deliveries.
The suspects, meanwhile, allegedly spent last March 19 committing or plotting crimes, starting when Green and Washington allegedly went to San Pablo with an electronic car key scanner in order to take a blue Dodge Charger from a resident there. With the Dodge in their possession, Green and Washington allegedly met up with their friends, Davis, and a fourth person whose identity remains a mystery. Police say all four men were affiliated with a gang based near Richmond’s Crescent Park.
The four then went to Oakland, in “search of a robbery victim,” according to the charging documents against Green and Washington. By noon that day, they followed Popovich from Oakland to Pleasant Hill, trapped him near his home by blocking his only escape route with the Dodge, and attempted to rob him at gunpoint, authorities say. But Popovich fought back, and fatally shot Davis during an exchange of gunfire.
The surviving suspects fled in the Dodge and later abandoned it in Oakland, according to police. Green and Washington were identified through a review of electronic data, including surveillance footage and text messages between them, according to court records. They were arrested, together, in North Highlands one month after the shootout, near Washington’s aunt’s residence.
Police searched the home and found four firearms, several magazines, and more than 100 rounds of ammunition, authorities said. Green and Washington have pleaded not guilty..
